The number of stalking complaints filed with police shot up to about 103 cases a day since the anti-stalking law went into effect a month ago from the daily average of 24 cases, police data showed Thursday. A total of 2,774 stalking complaints were filed for four weeks since the law took effect on Oct. 21, compared with 6,939 cases reported for nearly 10 months this year before the law's implementation, according to the data. The anti-stalking law, the first in South Korea to specifically targ

South Korea's new coronavirus cases hit an all-time high on Thursday since the start of the pandemic amid eased social distancing rules, putting health authorities on alert over further upticks. The country reported a record high of 3,292 new daily cases, including 3,272 local infections, raising the total caseload to 406,065, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Thursday's daily caseload marks the highest since the country reported its first COVID-19 case in J

Nearly 500,000 high school seniors and other exam takers nationwide sat down to take the annual national college entrance test Thursday, the second such exam held against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic. About 509,000 high school seniors, graduates and others signed up to take the College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), a single-day five-session exam, held this year at 1,251 test sites nationwide. It is the second CSAT the country has held since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020.

The government of the southeastern city of Gimhae apologized Thursday for ordering mandatory COVID-19 tests of foreign children registered at the city's daycare centers amid a backlash over xenophobia and rights violations concerns. A government memo obtained by Yonhap News Agency earlier this week showed the municipality, located 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, ordered 93 daycare centers to cooperate with preemptive tests of foreign children under their care on Monday and Tuesday. The city

South Korea ranks low among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of the employment rate for university graduates due mainly to a severe mismatch between their majors and job openings, a report showed Thursday. The employment rate for South Koreans aged 25-34 with university diplomas came to 75.2 percent in 2020, the 31st lowest among 37 comparable OECD member countries, according to the report from the Korea Economic Research Institute (KERI). Th

The US Forces Korea on Wednesday started inoculating children in its affiliated community with a pediatric Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine at three of its bases, its officials said. The vaccination program for children aged 5 to 11 started at the medical facilities in Camp Humphreys and Osan Air Base in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, and Camp Walker in Daegu, 300 kilometers southeast of the capital, the USFK said. The vaccination came after the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the

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South Korea will shorten the wait for COVID-19 booster shots as the daily count of new cases rose above 3,000 and breakthrough infections continued to send people to hospitals. 　Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum told a government meeting on Wednesday that the six-month wait for a booster will now be cut to four months for people who are older than 60 and residents of long-term care facilities. People aged 50 and up will be eligible for booster doses five months after their primary vaccine series.

Daily coronavirus cases in Seoul topped 1,400 for the first time Wednesday, two weeks after the nation drastically eased social distancing rules. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said 1,436 COVID-19 cases were confirmed in the capital over the past 24 hours, the highest since the start of the pandemic early last year. Of them, 1,432 were local infections, and four were imported cases. The total caseload reached 134,949 in the city with a population of more than 9.58 mil

Voice phishing scammers are getting increasingly bold lately as many of them prefer to directly meet fraud victims to extort money, the National Police Agency (NPA) said Wednesday, releasing the results of its recent crackdowns. The NPA said its wholesale crackdowns on voice phishing criminals, conducted for eight months this year between February and June, and between August and October, netted 19,634 roundups, of which 1,845 suspects were put under arrest. By type of phishing crimes busted b

More than half of South Koreans think an increase in online classes by schools is the biggest setback among changes in lifestyle caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a survey showed Wednesday. The poll released by Statistics Korea showed 50.5 percent of those surveyed said they negatively assessed a rise in online education, and 14.8 percent said online classes will likely accelerate down the road. South Korea has ordered schools to conduct online classes full-time or run them along with in-person

The government of the southeastern city of Gimhae on Wednesday withdrew a mandatory virus test program of foreign children registered at the city's daycare centers amid a backlash over xenophobia and rights violations concerns. A government memo obtained by Yonhap News Agency showed the municipality, located 300 kilometers southeast of Seoul, ordered 93 daycare centers to cooperate with preemptive tests of foreign children under their care on Monday and Tuesday. The city government explained

A metaverse event on Wednesday will conjure up late national independence hero Kim Gu in the virtual space to welcome him back home from China, 76 years after his little-celebrated homecoming amid complex post-independence politics. The Seoul Museum of History said the event, set to be held on the Zepeto platform later in the day, will virtually recreate Kim as a metaverse avatar as well as the surroundings of a building used as a home for Kim when he returned from China on Nov. 23, 1945, to ho

South Korea's daily new coronavirus cases spiked to surpass the 3,000 mark Wednesday, just shy of an all-time high, health authorities said, deepening concerns over medical capacity amid the continued surge in critical cases. The country reported 3,187 new COVID-19 cases, including 3,163 local infections, raising the total caseload to 402,775, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA). Wednesday's figure, a sharp hike from 2,125 cases the previous day, is the second-